


Dog Day Afternoon

by novaKnight_Rahxbi



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Re:Mind, dog sitting, namine lives with the wayfinder trio here!, wayfinder quartet if you will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25792270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novaKnight_Rahxbi/pseuds/novaKnight_Rahxbi
Summary: One hundred and one dalmatians can be a lot to handle alone, so Riku decides to lend Naminé a helping hand.
Relationships: Naminé/Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 38
Collections: RikuNami Week (2020)





	Dog Day Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> A discussion with my sister many moons ago led us to believe that it'd be interesting if the wayfinder trio were the OG owners of the dalmatian puppies, and that they had ended up scattered across the worlds after the Land of Departure fell to darkness. Mix that particular idea with a little namiku and you get...this lol.

“It’s a pretty big castle, but you’ll really only have to keep an eye on the one wing while you’re here.” Terra explained as he guided Riku through the halls of Departure Castle one early morning. Though he’d briefly visited a few times before, a quick rundown of things before Terra left with Aqua and Ventus to head into the Realm of Darkness for another search mission would definitely help Riku out with this task, even if it was only for a day or so.

“You’ve got an entire wing reserved just for a few dogs?” Riku asked, confusion very evident on his face.

“It’s… a little more than a few.”

Riku stopped in his steps before Terra, who stood alongside him in front of a particularly large brown-orange door. “How many are we talking about here?”

Terra gave him a sheepish smile before grabbing the door handle and pressing the lock latch on top to pull the door open. As he did, the two young men were met with a small cacophony of excited barks and yips as a crowd of dalmatian puppies pawed and scratched at the plastic gate blocking their way out.

“About 15 of them.”

“Fifteen!?”

Terra stroked his chin in fake deep thought. “Times six rooms of them, so… more like 99.”

Riku’s eyes grew incredulously wide. “ _Ninety-nine?!”_

Terra laughed, reaching down and over the gate to scratch one of the dogs behind the ears. “You look just like how Naminé did when we told her.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can do this.” Riku was a lot of things. Keyblade Master, tamer of the forces of darkness, hero of the Realm of Light. ‘Dog-sitter’ wouldn’t have been so bad a title to add to his repertoire if there weren’t nearly a hundred of them waiting for him in the wings. Why did even the simplest of jobs always have to get blown out of proportion for him?

Terra closed the door behind him before leading Riku further down the corridor to another similarly colored entrance. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Besides, Nam will be here too so you won’t be alone.” He paused briefly as he pressed the lock hatch down, turning to look at Riku with a knowing smirk. “Well, you might be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Terra opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the door opening outward on its own, revealing Naminé standing behind it with one of the puppies in her arms. “There you are Terra! I was looking for you earlier.”

“Same here. I figured you might still be around here though. Looks like I was right.”

“Sorry. I guess I got a little sidetracked,” Naminé admitted. She glanced at who was standing next to Terra and smiled brightly. “Riku, hello! You made it after all.”

Riku waved back at her politely. “Yeah. I’m here to help with your, ah, dalmatian situation.”

“That’s great. I usually handle this myself so I hope it’s not too much of a hassle.”

“Not even remotely.” Terra clapped Riku on the top of his back, shoving him forward a little. “If anything, Riku’s here to give you a break.”

“Well that’s very sweet of you, Riku. Thank you.”

Riku scratched the back of his head, finding a sudden interest in the pale yellows and deep golds of the high ceilings before looking back down. “Anytime.”

“Well now that you two are on the same page, I should probably get going. Can’t keep Aqua and Ven waiting.“ Terra waved goodbye at the both of them as he turned and walked back to the main hall. “See you guys tomorrow.” He looked back towards Riku in particular and winked. “Don’t have too much fun while we’re gone, alright?”

“ _Goodbye,_ Terra.” Riku called back through gritted teeth.

Terra’s thunderous laughter echoed throughout the halls as he disappeared from sight. Naminé turned to look at Riku with a curious look on her face. “What was that all about?”

Riku shrugged. “Who knows with him sometimes? So, where should we start?”

“Come on in. I’ll give you the grand tour.” As Naminé unlocked the gate from her side and opened it, Riku politely stepped in past her and looked around. The room was pretty spacious, with a scattering of dog toys across the floor in one area. Dog bowls were affixed to a shelf-like structure in the left side of the room, while the right side of the room held spaced out dog beds and a few crates.

“So this is Terra’s second room.” Naminé said as she put the puppy she was holding down to let it scamper off. “You must have already seen the first one, right?”

Riku nodded tentatively. That explained why it had looked similar to the other room Terra had briefly shown him. “How many other rooms does he have?”

“Just the two. The other four rooms are split between Ven and Aqua.”

“So they’ve each got their fair share of the litter then.”

“Mhm hmm. Around 30 puppies each.”

The thought alone of having that many dogs running around his own home made Riku’s nose itch. “You’ve really got your hands full, huh?”

“Oh, it’s not so bad. They keep each other company so they’re rarely lonely.” Naminé softly laughed as a crowd of pups dashed past her, some staying behind to sniff at her and Riku’s ankles. “They tend to keep me company too.”

Riku chuckled, unable to hear Naminé’s testimony as anything but wholesome. _Maybe even a little bit cute._ Suddenly Riku felt something tugging at his lower pant leg and looked down to see a chubbier puppy pawing at him and looking up at him eagerly. “Uh…”

“That’s Rolly. He’s one of Terra’s favorites.” Naminé shook a warning finger at the dog. “And he just got treats, so he won’t be getting anymore until much later. Right?”

Rolly’s whining got noticeably more desperate upon hearing that, and he continued to look up at Riku with an even bigger set of puppy dog eyes. 

“Sorry, but you heard her.” Riku patted the top of Rolly’s head and gently pushed him away. “No use trying to butter me up.” 

Turned down by his last hope, Rolly let out a small pouty-sounding ‘woof’ before walking away to go join the other puppies. That left room for the other spotted pups to take his place and crowd around Riku to get attention.

“Terra tends to spoil him a lot, but he’s very sweet,” Naminé said. “That kind of goes for all his dogs, actually.”

“And the rest of them?”

“You’ll see. We’re done in this room so we can go check the other ones out.”

* * *

Having visited Aqua’s and Ven’s rooms, Riku was becoming a firm believer in the idea that the personalities of a dog and their owner were one and the same. The puppies in Aqua’s rooms were very well-behaved, save for a few rowdier ones. And just like the spitting image of Ven, his puppies were as energetic as could be. It was amazing how effortlessly Naminé could handle them all. Where Riku surely would have gotten even two of them mixed up, she could tell who was who in an instant like there were obvious landmarks amongst the sea of spots.

After checking up on all of them, the pair of sitters decided to let the puppies out for some fresh air on the outdoor training grounds later that afternoon. As the puppies happily frolicked about on the lower grounds, Riku sat beside Naminé on the small ledge overlooking it to keep an eye on them.

“So,” Riku began. “How’ve things been going here?”

“It’s been great,” Naminé said, a very warm smile present on her face as she spoke. “Everyone’s been so kind to me and I’ve never felt more at home.” 

“Good to hear.”

“What about you? How are things on your end?”

Riku sighed, the sudden heaviness in his chest weighing him down. “About as good as they can be right now.”

Naminé frowned. “You’re worried about Sora.”

Riku shook his head. “We still haven’t found him.” It had been over three months since Sora had vanished in front of their very eyes back on the islands, and he still hadn’t come back. It may have been a much shorter time than when they’d both been AWOL for a year, but that didn't make it any less worrisome.

“I’m sorry.” Riku looked over to see Naminé looking more downtrodden than she had before. “I’ve tried tracing several connections that I thought would lead to him, but nothing’s come up.” She tensely clasped her hands together. “I wish I could do more to help.”

Riku shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize. You’ve done more than enough.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I do. I can’t even begin to count how many times you helped Sora and I out when we were in trouble. I’ve just got to do the same for him.”

Naminé smiled fondly at the keyblade master. “You always did tend to put others before yourself. I think Sora’s starting to rub off on you a little.”

Riku felt himself age several years upon hearing that remark. “Please don’t remind me.” The sound of gnarled barking caught Riku’s attention as he looked over and saw a few of the dalmatians getting a little too rough in their play-fighting in the corner. “Hey, settle down over there!” 

Much to his dismay, the puppies took his order as a more of a calling and ran right up to Riku, crowding around him and wagging their tails at him waiting for another command. One of them in particular, a pudgy two-toned coated one with a black backside, started pawing at his shins excitedly.

Naminé laughed, handing a spare rubber ball that had been laying next to her off into Riku’s open hand. “It’s hard not to remind you when it shows so often.”

Riku stared at the ball in his hand for a brief moment, contemplating something deeper than the smooth plastic texture that rested on his fingers before rearing his arm back and tossing the ball further away. The puppies immediately jumped at the chance and scrambled away to go fetch it. A small smile crept up on Riku as he watched the dogs run back to him with the ball in one of their mouths. Maybe being “Sora-esque” from time-to-time wasn’t so bad.

* * *

Bringing the dogs back in after playtime felt like herding cats more than anything. Though it only took Riku and Naminé around ten minutes to get them into the dining room, they were more tired than expected from running around to round them all up. After setting up all of the bowls and hefting many a heavy bag of kibble around, the puppies were happily gobbling down on their dinner. While Pongo and Perdita thankfully relieved them of their puppy-watching duties for the time being, it gave Riku and Naminé time to get themselves something to eat nearby.

Eventually nighttime had fallen and everyone had been sent off to bed. Dimmed glows from the sconces aligned against the walls served as the only light in the corridor as the last of the puppies were corralled back into Aqua’s second room. After locking the door behind her and dusting as many stray dog hairs as possible off of her, Naminé led Riku through yet another hallway before arriving at a lightly worn platinum blue door.

“Your room’s right here.” Naminé gestured to the door in front of them. “If you need anything, just come find me down the hall.”

“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” Riku joked.

Naminé put her hands on her hips, fake frowning and raising her eyebrow. “Who’s the guest here?”

“Alright, alright,” Riku conceded as he held his hands up in defeat. “Good night, Naminé.”

“Good night!”

Riku walked into the room, closing the door behind him and turning around to settle into bed. Changing into some spare sleepwear and plopping onto the mattress, it felt pretty comfortable to nestle into. As he focused on the wide ceiling above and started counting imaginary Tama Sheep in his head to help him get to sleep, a pang of uncertainty that had been pushed to the back of his mind started to rear its ugly head. 

It had been a while since he’d really sat and thought about it, but he’d been alone for quite some time now. It was different than just being by himself; Riku had no problem with that at all. But with Sora gone and Kairi sound asleep in Radiant Garden for the time being, it wasn’t like he’d had many people around to talk to. No one that he was as close to, at least.

Naminé though… she had understood completely. Somehow she always did. He’d never admit it, but he had been utterly starved for companionship when he’d been asked to help her out. He figured that the work alone would be a good distraction, but simply just being around her had put him more at ease than he could have imagined. Come to think of it, he’d almost completely forgotten about how bad he’d been feeling before up until now.

As the day’s events and his myriad of unexplored feelings replayed themselves before Riku behind closed eyelids, he uncharacteristically found himself peacefully drifting off to sleep.

* * *

It was hardly even an hour later that a scratching sound at the door stirred Riku out of his slumber. Figuring it was some weird remnant of the dream he couldn’t quite remember having, he turned over and tried to go back to sleep, only to be woken right up by even louder scratching and a whimpering noise accompanying it.

“Must’ve missed one of ‘em,” Riku yawned, getting out of bed and shuffling over to the door. He had no idea how Naminé did it, being able to keep track of so many dogs all of the time. At the very least he could handle putting this one back to bed and deal with it in the morning. Opening the door, Riku was taken aback by the pure white puppy that ran in and started yipping at him, running around him in circles on the carpet.

A white puppy? Riku didn’t remember seeing one of those around earlier today. As Riku rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes to figure out what was going on, the odd puppy was tugging at his pajama pant leg in an adorable effort to lead him out into the hall.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Peeking out of the door to see where the dog had run off to, Riku found that he didn’t have to go too far as he watched it run down the hall and make a hard right turn into Naminé’s room. Now much more awake than he had been, Riku followed suit and leaned against the door frame to try and hear anything suspicious. 

It was hardly audible, but Riku still managed to pick up one particular sound. It almost sounded like someone was… crying? Taking care not to startle either of them, Riku gently knocked on the door. “Naminé? You okay?”

“I-I’m fine.” Naminé stammered out. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Then you won’t mind if I come in and check?”

“W-well…”

“Please?”

There were a few beats of silence in between before a timid shuffling inside sheets was heard. “Okay.”

Riku slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was only barely illuminated by the night sky outside, but he could still make out Naminé’s figure huddled up at the end of her bed along with the stray dog from before.

“Sorry if Oddball woke you up.,” Naminé apologized. “She gets a little too excited if there’s someone new around the castle.”

Riku walked over and sat opposite of her on the other side of the bed. “I don’t mind. I’m more concerned about you.”

“I just had a bad dream, that’s all. It happens now and again.”

“How often?”

Naminé shook her head. “It’s usually on really quiet nights. Everyone’s been off looking for Sora so it’s been happening a lot more often, but it’s almost always the same dream.”

If there’s one thing that Riku had become overly familiar with within the past year, it was dreams. Maybe those Dream Eater abilities he’d gained in the Realm of Sleep would come in handy here. “Did you want to talk about it? Might help a little if you do.”

Naminé furrowed her brow a little, her mental search for the right words reflected in her expression as she started to recall her dream. “I’m in a castle somewhere. I’m not sure if it’s this one or… some other place. But it’s just me, all by myself.”

“The more I walk through it, the emptier it gets,” Naminé continued. “And when I try calling out to see if someone’s there, the walls suddenly start... closing in on me. Her serious expression quickly morphed into a more anxious one, Naminé started shaking as she felt herself sinking deeper into the familiar discomfort that her nightmares always dragged her into. “Before I know it, it just gets smaller and darker a-and I feel like I’m getting more trapped until… until I—!”

The rest of Naminé’s recollection became nearly unintelligible as it devolved into reluctant sobs. She hugged her knees closer to her chest, leaving almost no room for Oddball to try and nestle in and comfort her like she was attempting to do.

Riku started to say something but froze, a sudden realization stopping him in his tracks. The castle she’d been talking about, it being ‘somewhere else…

 _Castle Oblivion_ , Riku thought. It felt like such a long time ago. That place had been nothing but a bump in the road to him, a maze where the exit served as the beginning of his road to redemption. But for Naminé, it must have been pure torture.

Without giving a second thought to what his body was doing, Riku leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Naminé, pulling her close to his chest. His hold got instinctively tighter at the sound of her crying.

“‘I’m sorry,” Naminé mumbled as she wiped some of her tears away. “I didn’t mean to wake you up for this.”

“No more apologizing, alright?” Riku shushed. “You’re not alone anymore. You’ve got Terra, Aqua, Ven, and everyone else.“ Riku smoothed down the back of her hair, bringing her even closer. “I’m here too.”

Naminé’s breathing hitched for a moment. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Thank you.” Naminé sniffled. “I… would you mind staying here with me? Just for tonight, I mean,” she quickly added.

Suddenly, Riku was very thankful that the room was dark enough to hide the flush of red showing up on his face. “You sure? I think somebody might want their spot on the bed back.”

Naminé managed to let out a small laugh in between her tears. “I think she’s more than happy to share.” Upon saying that, they both watched as Oddball finally managed to work her way into between the two of them and curl up contentedly on Riku’s stomach.

The tension in the room gradually ebbed away, replaced by the white noise of yet another quiet night. With nothing left between the two aside from a small white dog and a mutual reassurance, sleep eventually took them to a place hopefully more peaceful than nights before.

* * *

Morning came and brought along with it the return of the castle’s remaining occupants from their trip. While the trio had gone within their respective rooms to greet their furry companions, Naminé and Riku were walking down the grand hallway towards the castle’s exit, having already bid a temporary farewell to the pups.

“Thanks a lot, Riku. You were a big help.”

“It was nothing.” Riku cleared his throat uncomfortably, his gaze briefly shifting to the side before turning back to Naminé. “You know, if you need someone to help you out with this again--er, if you _need_ the help, I mean. I’m around, so...”

“Hm?”

 _Just spit it out, you idiot._ Riku mentally slapped himself into shape. “If you ever want someone to keep you company when you’re doing this, just call me.” It took no time at all for Riku to realize how direct he’d sounded. “Wait, I mean--”

His words were abruptly cut off by a soft pair of lips being planted on his own. Riku’s eyes widened in shock before he found himself briefly kissing back until Naminé pulled away.

Naminé beamed at him, a rosy blush remaining on her cheeks. “I think I will. Take care on the way back, alright?”

“Uh… huh. Y-you too. Later.” As he gradually got out of the shock of what had just happened, Riku’s pace turned from a casual strode into a much more hurried speed walk out of the castle doors and away from the combined laughter of Naminé and an all-too amused Terra that he’d unfortunately just passed by. The red-hot embarrassment cooled and molded into something much more pleasant as Riku sighed contentedly, giving himself up to the unusually goofy smile growing on his face as he headed back to his gummi ship.

**Author's Note:**

> riku's favorite puppy definitely is two-tone. takes one darkness butt to know one, i guess.
> 
> thanks for reading!


End file.
